1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to sickel guards and more specifically it relates to a sickel guard air system for assisting in moving grain about to be cut over a cutter assembly of a harvester thereby preventing grain waste and shatter.
When harvesting a crop, especially edible beans, the bean pod will shatter after the plant is severed by the cutter assembly. The dislodged beans then fall upon the front portion of the harvester and thereafter will fall into the sickel bar or roll completely off the harvester without being harvested. This can cost the farmer many bushels per acre which can be costly to the farmer in the long term. Hence, there is a need for a system that will reduce the amount of grain lost during harvest.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Harvester cutter assemblies have been in use for years. Typically, a conventional harvester cutter assembly will be comprised of a header having a sickel bar having a plurality of sickel blades reciprocating within a plurality of sickel guards. The sickel blades slide within the plurality of sickel guards for severing the crop. As the sickel blades sever the crop, the plant is violently jarred thereby causing the pods to "shell out" allowing the beans within the pods to be removed prior to fully entering the header of the combine. Over the long term, this can be extremely expensive for the farmer.
Examples of attempts to solve this problem include U.S. Pat. No. 2,737,006 to Klingler; U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,951 to Richards et al; U.S. Pat. No. 2,718,744 to Phillips; U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,919 to Brooks; U.S. Pat. No. 4,730,444 to Leffel et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,573 to Porter; U.S. Pat. No. 3,165,874 to Osteen; U.S. Pat. No. 2,710,516 to Kaesemeyer et al; U.S. Pat. No. 2,670,586 to Phillips which are all illustrative of such prior art.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for assisting in moving grain about to be cut over a cutter assembly of a harvester thereby preventing grain waste and shatter. Previous attempts to utilize air pressure have failed because they emit the pressurized air far away from the cutting action.
In these respects, the sickel guard air system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of assisting in moving grain about to be cut over a cutter assembly of a harvester thereby preventing grain waste and shatter.